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When we look at cities around the world, it is the cultural infrastructure and activities that help make the city a desirable, attractive and interesting place to explore! A city with a good network of cultural venues is a liveable city – putting people, ideas and creativity at its core
In 2020, the City of Parramatta sought to better understand what creative cultural venues and experiences to prioritise throughout the Parramatta CBD and our suburbs. We had a very strong response to our online survey, with over 200 completed. Thank you to all who contributed!
It was clear there is a strong desire for more creative cultural experiences closer to home as many of you told us that you currently have to leave Parramatta to find these experiences. You can learn more by clicking on the engagement results link below.
Following an internal review that took place throughout 2021, Council has determined that the research, actions and recommendations being developed for cultural infrastructure will be integrated into the refreshed City of Parramatta Cultural Strategy. The Cultural Strategy is the city’s overarching strategic document focused on culture and is undergoing a review in 2022. It is expected to be open to community feedback as part of Council’s renewal of its overall strategic framework later in 2022.
We look forward to using your feedback to further develop the recommendations and actions around cultural infrastructure as part of the Cultural Strategy.
If you are:
... we would love for you to stay in touch! Follow this page or provide your details below to receive emails about future community consultation opportunities.
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If you are deaf and/or find it hard hearing or speaking with people who use a phone, please contact the National Relay Service at relayservice.gov.au and provide them the City of Parramatta contact number, 1300 617 058.
Cultural infrastructure refers to ‘hard’ or physical infrastructure and generally covers arts, cultural and creative venues, as well as businesses and peak bodies, broadly categorised as follows:
These are spaces that support individual or collective use. For example: makerspaces in libraries, community gardens, First Nations-led Keeping Places and multipurpose community centres that offer arts workshop spaces, or support creative hobby groups and arts organisations
These are spaces that support art form development and professional creative practice. For example: rehearsal rooms, writers rooms, artist studios, studio and workshop spaces, relevant education providers (including art, theatre, dance, music and film schools), co-working spaces, not-for-profit artist-run centres or galleries, digital media arts production (film, video, music, gaming), not-for-profit arts organisations and peak bodies, First Nations artist-led initiatives and cultural venues.
These spaces are characterised by cultural venues and infrastructure for audiences or spectatorship. For example: major performing arts venues, live music venues (like, hotels, bars, cafes and clubs), museums, arts galleries, art centres, heritage and discovery centres, comedy clubs, arena entertainment venues, drama and dance theatres
These spaces belong to creative businesses (e.g. advertising, architectural, fashion design, photographic services). For example artists, creative manufacturing (like glass, jewellery, ceramics), creative publishing, creative digital media, music recording studios, film and video production, post-production and distribution, cinemas, radio, television, web broadcasting, creative retailing (commercial art gallery, art or craft supplies retailing, music instruments retail, book and record stores, antique goods, performing arts companies)
These are spaces for temporary, unplanned or ‘special event’ cultural use in the public domain. For example, heritage assets including adaptive reuse, parks, gardens, halls, market spaces, privately owned public spaces, public art, pop-ups, and ‘unusual’ spaces like rooftops, backyards, cafes
No, while there are particular cultural venues which are more likely to be located in the Parramatta CBD (for example, major performing arts venues that show international work and are likely to attract visitors as well as residents), the recommendations will apply to suburbs across the Parramatta Local Government Area. As such, we are interested in hearing the views of all people including those that have a view on the cultural infrastructure required across Parramatta’s suburbs.
We anticipate that the cultural infrastructure in neighbourhoods and suburbs will be quite different from the CBD, and reflect the particular character and interests of those communities. For example, for communities with a particularly strong interest in music, cultural venues such as music rehearsal rooms or recording studios might be integrated into multipurpose community centres, and the local café might open Saturday nights to host live music performances.
Stage one community engagement period opened Monday 1 June
Stage one community engagement period closed at 9am on Tuesday 23 June
Stage one community engagement period closed at 9am on Tuesday 23 June
Project team reviewed community feedback (June/July)
Stay tuned for announcements about the next stage of this project!
If you have questions or want to learn more about this project, please contact us using the details below:
Phone 1300 617 058
If you are deaf and/or find it hard hearing or speaking with people who use a phone, please contact the National Relay Service at relayservice.gov.au and provide them the City of Parramatta contact number, 1300 617 058.